


A Wonderfully Blue Christmas

by bigdsgirl



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Modern AU, annabeth cannot cook or bake to save her life, christmas cookie exchange, lots of fluff, thank goodness for percy, these two cuties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28250556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigdsgirl/pseuds/bigdsgirl
Summary: "Alright let's make a bet, Annabeth. You have to make a cookie, from scratch, not a mix, for the exchange. Without any help from us. If they’re edible, and I mean actually edible, we’ll give you the prize of your choice.”"You're on."---Annabeth, the girl who who hates to lose a challenge but can't bake to save her life, has to bake for a bet. And she doesn't plan on losing.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 52





	A Wonderfully Blue Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ithoughtyoulikedmereckless](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithoughtyoulikedmereckless/gifts).



> Nothing like the holiday season to bring out some cavity inducing fluff with these cuties. 
> 
> For my girl Rachel, you are the best and I love you! ❤️ Thank you for introducing me to the Percy Jackson Universe.

Every year, Piper and Jason host the annual Christmas cookie extravaganza, and every year, Annabeth buys the frosting cookies from the store. Of course, she buys the Christmas themed ones with green and red sprinkles because she doesn't hate Christmas. But, every year, everyone else would bring delicious homemade cookies. Especially Percy, Jason’s old roommate. His mom had the  _ best  _ recipes. 

This year is going to be different though; Annabeth has plans to cook. Well, bake. 

It had all started at Thanksgiving, when she had brought a dish from the deli at Wegmans. She had tried to disguise her lack of cooking expertise by putting it in a pretty dish she bought from Target. It didn’t work. 

“Annabeth! Are you serious?!” Piper cackles in the kitchen as she organizes the dishes on the counter. Annabeth shrugs and places the dish in the microwave. 

“It’s fine, no one will know the difference.” 

Piper snortsed in response. “Sure, sweetie. Whatever helps you sleep at night,” she turns back to her task at hand. 

Later that night, after everyone had eaten and moved to watch the football game that is on, Piper decides to open up a can of worms. “So what did everyone think of Annabeth’s mac & cheese, didn’t she do great?” 

Annabeth covers her face as her friends compliment her on her efforts. 

“Some of her best microwaving and plating skills to date,” Leo says, a smug grin on his face. Annabeth gasps and everyone starts to laugh at that. 

“Hey, I will have you know I am a master at the microwave, okay?” she retorts, grabbing a cookie off the table and taking a bite from it. 

“I thought it tasted pretty damn good,” Percy says with a kind smile. Annabeth’s cheeks flush slightly at the compliment, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Piper. 

“Percy, you’re too nice to this girl. Honestly, I don’t know how she survives,” Piper exclaims. Annabeth wacks her in the arm, trying to shut her up. 

“Pipes isn’t joking, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Annabeth successfully cook a dish on her own,” Hazel adds. Annabeth glares at her friend, who winks at her. “Maybe you could teach her!” Annabeth’s grip on the couch tightens, shooting daggers at Hazel who grins cheekily. 

“I mean, I would be happy to, but I think Chase can fend for herself just fine,” Percy says, giving Annabeth a comforting smile. 

“Thank you, Jackson! I agree, I can handle myself, but if I need help, I’ll take you up on that offer,” she says, reaching for another cookie. The room falls slight for a moment, watching the football gaming playing on the screen. 

“If you’re so sure that you can do it, I dare you to bake for the Christmas cookie extravaganza,” Jason says nonchalantly. Everyone starts chuckling at the thought, except for Percy. 

“Psh, that won’t be a problem.” Annabeth crosses her arms, challenging him. 

Frank jumps up from his seat next to Hazel and turns to the group. “Alright, let’s make it a bet then,” he says, grabbing a pillow and tossing it to Annabeth. “Annabeth, you have to make a cookie,  _ from  _ scratch, not a mix, for the exchange. Without any help from us. If they’re  _ edible _ , and I mean  _ actually  _ edible, we’ll give you the prize of your choice.” 

She raises her eyebrows. “My choice, well, well, well,” she says, but Frank holds up a finger to shush her. 

“Now, if you lose, well, that just solidifies that you’re the worst cook among us and will get made fun of, in a kind way, for the rest of our lives. Along with a punishment of our choice.” Frank smirks, crossing his arms. The group turns to Annabeth, who is tapping her finger on her chin. She stands up, dropping the pillow, and sticks her hand out. 

“You’re on.” Frank laughs and grabs her hand, giving it a quick shake. Leo whoops, while Piper and Hazel shake their heads. “And I already know what I am gonna do with my prize. I’m picking out everyone’s Halloween costumes for next year.” 

The shouts of the group drown out the game. 

\----

Annabeth had thought this would be pretty easy, researching the easiest cookie to make, which she decided to be sugar cookies. 

Standing in the kitchen, staring at all the ingredients, she gives a huff. “I can do this, how hard can this be? It’s just a sugar cookie.” She then turns up the Christmas music and gets to work. 

Boy was she wrong. 

Next thing she knows she's pulling out cookies that look more like hockey pucks than something edible and waving a towel to shift the smoke towards the open window in the kitchen. 

“ _ Damn it _ , the instructions made it sound so easy. How do the others do this?” Annabeth mutters to herself as she places the tray on the counter. With a fork, she tries to poke a cookie, but she can’t even get the fork into the cookie, it’s that hard. “Well  _ shit _ .”

Annabeth looks at the clock, and sees it’s 2:30pm. Well, good thing the party isn’t until tomorrow. She scrapes the cookies into the trash (thank goodness for all the arm workouts lately), and decides to give it another go. 

\--

It doesn’t work. Although her cookies aren’t rocks, they taste sour. She only then realized she used salt instead of sugar. “Well how in the heck did I mess  _ that  _ up,” Annabeth groans, staring at the ingredients on the counter. She grabs her phone and dials Piper’s number, but quickly exits out of the app. “Nope, nope. Not gonna lose this challenge.” 

She decides to try again. 

\---

Third time is not, as they say, the charm. 

“Well, I give up.” She throws her hands in the air, and in the process, her elbow knocks the flour over, forming a white mushroom cloud, getting flour all over. After a moment, she starts coughing and laughing at the mess she’s made. 

“Well, fuck.” She definitely needs flour, or else there is no way she can finish the challenge. But she doesn’t want to leave looking like this. She glances at the clock. 3:48pm. While she has more than enough time to go grab more flour, she really doesn’t want to. Plus, she knows Percy is just getting off work, and passes by her place on his commute home. 

She quickly grabs her phone and dials his number, but her finger hovers over the call button. “Come on, you’re Annabeth freaking Chase, you can ask your cute friend for some flour.” She presses down on the button, and feels her stomach tighten. The phone rings, and Annabeth drums her fingers nervously on the counter, accidentally touching the hot pan with her finger, “Ow Ow”, but freezes when she hears Percy on the other line rather than it ringing. 

“Hey Chase, what’s up? You okay there?” Percy asks. 

Annabeth chuckles nervously. “Great Jackson, just great. Hey, do you have any free time you could help me with something?” She crosses her fingers, hoping he doesn’t have any plans. 

“I just got off work and might grab some food, but otherwise I’ve got all the time for you, Chase. What do you need?” . 

She blushes at his comment and takes a breath before she continues“I need some flour.” The phone is silent for a second before Percy starts laughing. 

“Oh? What for, may I ask?” 

She can hear his smirk through the phone and she groans. “Look, I am making my cookies, which is going  _ so great _ by the way, but I need some more flour. Could you be an  _ angel _ , Jackson, and bring it to me?” She bats her eyelashes, hoping that he will feel it through the phone and compel him to agree. “I am not asking for your help, I am just asking for you to deliver these supplies for me as I am very busy.” She huffs and he continues to laugh. 

“Okay, okay, I am gonna grab some take out and grab what you need. Give me twenty minutes?” Annabeth silently cheers, pumping her fist. 

“Great awesome, you are the best, see you in twenty.” She hangs up before he can respond. She looks down at her phone which is covered in flour. “Well. Better try and clean this up.” 

\---

Flour is pretty hard to clean up, she learns. Annabeth resorts to throwing the rug in her bathroom, and sweeping all the flour to the side into a dustpan. She is midst scrubbing her face, when her buzzer goes off. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” she says. Unlocking the door, she opens it a crack to reveal Percy holding two bags.

“Hey Chase, got the flour you requested.” He holds up a grocery bag. Annabeth smiles, widening the door a smidge, and reaching for the bag. 

“Thanks, Jackson,” Before she can grab the flour, he pulls it back, clicking his tongue. 

“Not so fast Chase, I want to see your progress.” Annabeth laughs at this but shakes her head. 

“No way dude, it’s gotta be a surprise, but know it’s really good.” She tries to grab the bag again, but he holds it up out of her reach. She groans. 

“Come on Chase, just show me, I got you some take out.” 

She side eyes him. “Thanks, but no thanks.” 

Percy looks at her for a moment, his eyes widening.“Hey, what’s that in your hair?” 

Annabeth freezes.  _ Shit _ , she had forgotten to clean the flour out of her hair. “Uh, nothing, you know, just slaving away in the kitchen.” 

“Really? It looks like you are trying to cosplay as the Witcher.” She snorts and steps back at the comment. “I mean, it looks great, I think you really capture the Geralt vibe.” 

“I am not Geralt! No way.” She takes another step back into her apartment, mistakenly widening her door. Percy goes for the opening and quickly walks into the apartment, beelining for the kitchen. Annabeth slams the door and runs after him. “Jackson, come back!” 

She stops at the edge of the kitchen, where he is standing and staring at her counters which are littered with ingredients, failed cookies, and flour. He is silent for a moment before a laugh starts bubbling out of his chest until he can’t stop and his laugh becomes silent and a tear streams down his face.

Annabeth crosses her arm and grunts, forcing Percy to turn back at her. He wipes his eyes with the back of his hands, still chuckling and steps back to set the take out on the table. “Alright wise girl, I think you’re right, things are going  _ great  _ for you.” He takes a step towards the kitchen with the flour but is stopped by Annabeth, who takes the bag out of his hand, and shoos him to sit down. 

“Okay so… maybe they aren’t. But I’ll get it right, it just might take a few more tries,” she says eyeing him. “You can’t be in here though, because then Frank and Jason might think I’m cheating and I won’t win the bet.” She places the new bag of flour on the counter, folding the bag and putting it under the sink. 

“Do they have surveillance on your kitchen right now?” He asks, looking around. 

Annabeth snorts.“Well no, but they're gonna  _ know.”  _ She grabs the cookie sheet of her most recent attempt and starts scraping them into the trash. Percy stands up and moves toward her, taking the tray out of her hand and finishes throwing away the cookies. 

“How would they know? Worst is we could say I was moral support. Hell, we don’t even have to tell them.” he says with a wink. Annabeth feels a blush forming on her cheeks, so she turns away and focuses on reorganizing ingredients. Percy places the cookie sheet in the sink, and comes up behind Annabeth, wrapping his arms around her and setting his head on tops of hers,stopping her from continuing her busy work. “Let me do the dishes, then I’ll sit over there,” he turns them to face the table, “and eat my pad thai, while I support your baking efforts. Then we can eat together and hang out.” He gives her a quick squeeze and lets go. “How does that sound?” 

Annabeth is silent for a beat, her heart racing. “I guess— I guess that’s okay. But I mean it with no help, I want to get this right.” He gives her a mock salute and turns back to the sink, working on the cookie sheet to prep it for the next batch. 

Turning back to the ingredients, Annabeth grabs the recipe.  _ Okay focus Annabeth. I know he’s cute and sweet and all, but think of the Halloween costumes.  _ She takes a deep breath, and gets to work. 

\----

Turns out that Percy is not a good luck charm. 

Both are now staring at the cookies that had just come out of the oven. 

“Are they good?” she asks as Percy inspects them. He grabs a spatula, removes one and takes a bite. Or tries to at least, as it crumbles in his hands onto the cookie sheet. 

Annabeth groans. “What did I do wrong this time!” she yells and stomps her feet. 

He looks over at her and chuckles. “You rolled the dough out too thin!” She stares at him with confusion, and he grabs the recipe.

“See here where it tells you how thick it needs to be? If you roll out the dough too thin, the cookies become too fragile.” 

She stares blankly. “How in the heck, am I supposed to eyeball the thickness of cookie dough?” Annabeth snaps. “Ugh, this is hopeless, I’m never gonna get this right.” She walks out of the kitchen, plopping down on a chair and puts her head in her hands. Percy follows and gets down in front of her, peeling her hands off her face, enveloping them into his own hands. 

“Chase, you’ll get this. You just gotta work out the kinks, you’re so close.” He squeezes her hands reassuringly. Annabeth’s head stays down and she sighs. “Hey,” he moves his right hand, lifting her chin up to look at him. “How about this, ‘llI help you out.” 

“Percy, no, you can’t help me. That’s cheating,” she says quietly. 

“Who cares. They deserve to get their smirks wiped off their face.” Annabeth chuckles quietly at this and he smiles. “Plus, I want to see what Halloween costumes you had in mind.” She out right, laughs at this. 

“Oh man, I have some great ideas for that.” He squeezes her hands again and stands up, tugging her up with him. 

“Exactly. So let’s do this. I’ll guide you, be your cookie coach. And we’re gonna rock this.” He lets go of her hands to wrap them around her, hugging tightly. Annabeth relaxes, wrapping her arms around his waist. 

“Okay,” she whispers into his sweater. He pulls back, his hands on her shoulders. 

“What was that, Annabeth?” He asks, as if he misheard her. 

“Okay coach, let’s do it.” He whoops and claps his hands. She laughs, and readjusts her sweater. 

He grabs her hand and pulls her into the kitchen. “Okay so we are gonna start off by creating the dough. The key is to chill it, so the dough can ‘ripen’ as my mom says.” 

And they get to work. 

\----

Fifth times the charm. 

With a little (well more like a lot of) coaching from Percy, the cookies are now cooling. Both him and Annabeth are staring at them intently. 

“How long is this gonna take?” Annabeth whines, bending down to get a better look at this batch. Percy laughs, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her back. 

“Patience, grasshopper, these things take time. Why don’t you run to the bathroom and wash your hair and face? You still look like you might slaughter me, Chase.” She sticks her tongue out at him, but walks across the room and down the hall to the bathroom to get the flour out of her hair.  _ Wow Annabeth, lookin’ cute,  _ she thinks, touching her flour highlighted hair and splotches of it on her face.

After a few moments of trying to wipe it out without having to hop in the shower (without any success), she gives up, scrubs her face again, and throws her hair into a quick messy bun. She then rushes back to the kitchen, where Percy is placing a cookie into his hand. 

“Are we going to split that?” She eyes him and he nods. 

“Yeah, I was thinking you could take the stump and I’d take the branches,” Percy says with a smirk on his face as he breaks the cookie in half and hands it to her. 

“Such a gentleman, Jackson.” 

“Only the best for you, Lady Chase.” She rolls her eyes and they both take a bite together. Chewing slowly, she looks down at the cookie sheet and back to him. 

“These are… these are  _ good _ .” She whispers. 

He nods his head vigorously, smiling bright. “Yeah Annabeth, they  _ are  _ good. You did it.” She squeals before he can finish and tackles him. 

“I did it! I freaking did it!” Annabeth yells in triumph while Percy laughs as they fall over onto the kitchen floor, him letting out a grunt of surprise. “Oh shit Percy, you okay?” She looks down at him and he nods in response. After a beat, she realizes that his hands are on her waist and she’s straddling him. She scrambles up out of the position, sticking her hand out to help him up. 

Percy gets up, dusting off his jeans, and then looks at Annabeth. They stare at each other for a minute. 

“Thank you Percy, for everything. I really appreciate it.” she says softly. 

“Of course Annabeth. Anything for you,” he whispers. Before she could stop herself, she quickly leans up, and kisses his cheek. He freezes for a moment. 

“Okay now let’s get to decorating.” Annabeth grabs the cookies on the cooling rack, and moves them out to the table where the other decorating materials are. Percy stays rooted in the kitchen and his hand lightly touches the spot where she had kissed him and smiles. 

“Jackson! You coming?” He snaps out of it. 

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry Chase, I’m coming.” 

\---

The cookies area hit. 

Annabeth walks into the party, no, waltzes into the party with her cookie tin in hand, smirk on her face. She brings her cookies to the kitchen table where the other treats are, along with her friends. 

“Got something for us, Annabeth?” Jason asks curiously. 

She shrugs. “Well you know, just some sugar cookies I made.  _ From scratch _ .” Annabeth opens the tin and everyone gasps and the pandemonium begins. 

“Are you kidding me—” 

“No way, we gotta try them first—” 

“I swear to the gods Jason, she’s gonna dress us up like random historical figures because of this—” 

As everyone grabs a cookie and eats one, and shock passes over their faces. Leo groans. 

“Shit Annabeth, these are good—”

“How in the hell did you make these—”

“Did you sell your soul to the devil for this?” Piper asks. Annabeth laughs and looks to Percy, who winks at her. 

“Nope,” she said, popping the ‘p’. “I just followed the directions of the recipe.” She holds up a piece of paper with the instructions. “You guys should try it.”

“Well,” Frank says, rubbing his hands together. “Great work Annabeth, we accept defeat and look forward to Halloween this year.” Annabeth grins while Piper and Hazel ‘hmph’ in annoyance. 

“Why thank you. And now, we must find a new shitty cook for the kitchen.” 

\---

Annabeth knows she has to thank Percy. There is absolutely no way she could have done this without him. As she sits on her couch, watching some TV, she mentally ticks off ways she can thank him. She decides that she’ll do something blue, of course, it’s his favorite color. He’s always loved blue gifts. 

Maybe, she can try her hand at cooking again? While baking is tough, and she can’t do it without him, she could definitely do breakfast. 

“That’s it!” Annabeth said. “I’ll make him a brunch and thank him for helping me.” He’s always loved blue pancakes, he talks about how his Mom used to make them for him. She hops off the couch and goes into her kitchen to grab a notepad.

She has some shopping to do. 

\---

The next few days are busy, so on Thursday, she finally has some time to send him a text. 

_ Annabeth: Hey Jackson, whatcha up to on Saturday?  _

_ Percy: Oh nothing, might go for a swim, but that’s it.  _

_ Annabeth: Ew. Well, how about after your workout, you come to my house for some food? My treat, as a thank you?  _

_ Percy: …. Are you cooking? _

_ Annabeth: I mean I am basically a chef now. 10 am work okay? _

_ Percy: You baked one batch of cookies, and now you are acting like you have a Michelin star?  _

_ Annabeth: Jackson, you coming or not? _

_ Percy: Yeah, yeah I’ll be there Chase.  _

\---

Annabeth woke up ungodly early for a Saturday, 8:00 am. While she knows how to make breakfast, she isn’t totally sure if she’s going to mess it up. 

The more time she has the better. 

After making and drinking some coffee, she lays out all her ingredients and gets to work. 

The easy thing about pancake mix is that you really just have to add some water and stir it up. Oh and some blue food coloring, for Percy. 

Humming as she mixes the batter, she flicks the dial to heat her pan up. Once it feels hot (just as Percy told her from their previous discussions on how to make the perfect pancake), she cuts a piece of butter and lets it melt on the skillet. She then takes a ladle and pours some of the batter into the pan. 

Wait two to three minutes or until bubbling. Flip. Then place it on the plate. 

She quietly works, burning the first few, but then only burning one of every four pancakes. Annabeth quickly tosses the burnt pancakes and keeps pouring blue batter onto the skillet. 

On her 12th pancake, she hears the door buzz. Spatula in hand, she goes to the door and opens it, Percy who’s freshly showered after his swim, hair still damp. 

“Hey Chase, I hear you have some food for me,” he says with a smile. 

“Come on in seaweed, got some all ready for you.” Annabeth opens the door wider, pointing towards the kitchen with her spatula. Before he can even walk in, an alarm sounds in the apartment. “Shit, Percy, can you open a window?” She sprints into the apartment, grabbing a dish towel on the table and waving it under the smoke alarm. Percy opens the window in the living room, only to start laughing. 

“Shut up Jackson,” Annabeth yells from the kitchen. While waving the towel, she grabs the smoking pan and dumps the burnt pancake into the trash. She then moves the pan to the sink, running water to cool it down. After a minute the alarm stops, though there is still a slight haze to the room. 

“Well, I think this is already a success,” Percy declares, standing behind her. Annabeth huffs and turns around, glaring at him. 

“I’m going to graciously ignore your attitude because I already made you at least six beautiful pancakes right here,” she says, grabbing the plate by the stove where the blue pancakes sit. “I gotta grab you syrup, I sadly don’t have any whipped cream because you know what, that is just too much for pancakes, I am gonna be honest...” Annabeth continues to babble as she brings the pancakes to the table. She turns back, and notices Percy hasn’t moved from his spot in the kitchen, his gaze unfocused. She takes a step forward, waving her hand. 

“Jackson, earth to Jacks—” before she can finish, Percy grabs her hand, pulling her in and snaking the other arm around her waist, kissing her soundly. Annabeth melts into the kiss, wrapping one arm around his neck and pulling him closer. 

After a moment, Percy pulls back slightly, leading his forehead against hers. “They’re blue.” He kisses her again. 

Annabeth blushes and giggles slightly. “Well, I remember you saying you made blue pancakes with your mom, so I wanted to—”. Percy cuts her off again with another kiss. “You like it?” She asks.

“I love it, Annabeth.” She smiles and gives him another kiss, before stepping back, sliding her hands down from his neck to his forearms. 

“Well then, let’s eat, Percy.” Annabeth pulls him toward the table to sit down. As she turns to sit down, he grabs her arm again and pulls her into his lap, snuggling her and peppering her face with kisses. “Percy, I want to eat, let me go,” she says jokingly as he continues to snuggle her. 

“Two more minutes,” he says softly. She hmms in agreement as they sit for a moment in silence, the sounds of the city as their soundtrack. After a moment, she slowly untangles herself (to his dismay) and sits next him at the table. 

“Alright Jackson, time to eat.” She passes him the plate to grab some pancakes. After dousing them with syrup, Percy takes a bite and groans, giving her a thumbs up and she blushes in response. They continue to eat, and start playing footsies under the table. 

“Chase, I thought you said you couldn’t cook?” Percy teases, grabbing their finished plates and bringing them to the sink, Annabeth trailing after him. 

“Contrary to popular belief, I can cook a little bit,” Annabeth retorts. He leans against the counter and wraps his arms around her. 

“Take that, Piper,” he jokes, his laugh reverberating from his chest. 

She freezes at this comment. “Oh my gosh Percy, what are we gonna do.” She looks up at him with worried eyes and he turns his head in confusion. 

“What do you mean, what are we gonna do?” He leans down to kiss her, but she puts a finger on his lips to stop him. 

“How are we gonna tell the group, they’re gonna know I cheated!” He chuckles at this, shaking his head.

“Nobody is gonna know,” he stamps a kiss to her finger.

“They're gonna know, I am a terrible liar! And so are you,” she exclaims. 

Percy guffaws. “My academy award would say otherwise.” Annabeth slaps his arm and he laughs at her feeble attempt.

“Seriously, Percy, what are we gonna do?” He thinks for a moment before leaning down and giving her a quick kiss. 

“It’ll just be our secret. We can just pretend I finally got the guts to ask Annabeth Chase out.” He squeezes her and she laughs. 

After a beat, she leans back. “So are you going to?” 

His eyebrows curled in confusion. “Do what?” 

Annabeth guffaws .“Ask me out, seaweed brain!” She lightly smacks his chest. He pulls her in close, their noses touching. Annabeth’s breath becomes shallow. 

“Hmmm… I think I’ll think about it, Chase.” She snorts and he pulls her for another kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comments & kudos are appreciated. I hope you have a wonderful Holiday :) 
> 
> Find me on tumblr at @bigdsgirl.


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